Google’s Tez is a new Payment System for India

The wallet-less system makes use of UPI to transfer money

Google has launched a new UPI-based payments system in India. Titled Tez, the system is aiming to be ubiquitous and is targeted towards basically everyone from malls & shops to the local tea-stall vendor. It connects with your bank account using the newly launched United Payments Interface (UPI) by the Indian government to make payments seamless, easy and wallet-free.

Google claims multi-level security with the payments secured using a UPI-PIN while the app itself can be secured either using a Google setup PIN or the usual screen-locking mechanism. The service currently supports payment through all banks that support UPI (numbering over 50) which include such major banks as Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank (a list of all banks supporting UPI can be found here). It is currently partnering with redBus, PVR, Dominos, DishTV and Jet Airways. Google claims support for multiple Indian languages such as English, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi and Tamil.

Google’s Tez is offering cashbacks and rewards that will go straight to your bank account.

Google’s official statement describing the product reads: “Send money home to your family, split a dinner bill with friends, or pay the neighbourhood chaiwala. Make all payments big or small, directly from your bank account with Tez, Google’s new digital payment app for India.” The app should come as a big boon to Indian customers currently inundated with multiple wallet-based solutions in the form of PayTM, FreeCharge, MobiKwik and others and could also serve as a rival to these firms in a way with the backing of Google. It’ll be interesting to see how the mobile payments space develops with this new entrant.

The app is currently available for download on Android and iOS. Click on the respective links to jump right to the download page.